Christmas is a time of intersections. Think back to the first Christmas. God intersected with man in the person of Christ. Angels intersected with shepherds. Wisemen intersected with the human appointed King of Judah, as well as the divinely appointed King of kings. And if I'm right about the star of Bethlehem (see my meditation on it last year here) God announced the work he was about to do with a number of intersections concerning the star of Bethlehem. One of those intersections was the triple conjunction of Jupiter with Saturn, which I argued was understood by the wise men as a King (as in God's king) was coming to Judah. That happened about the time that Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, was born.

Interestingly enough, there are some striking parallels between the intersections then, and intersections today, which though not perfect, make for some interesting thoughts to consider and meditate on - which of course is the purpose of a meditation. Let's start with the king who was ruling at the time of the first advent: Herod, known as the Great, King of Judea.

Judea was of course the home of the Jews. But the country was not theirs. Judea was a province of Rome. This is a result of the disobedience of the nation, that caused God to send judgment on the land and the people. The Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 or 587 BC. (The fall of the capital city of Jerusalem at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is recorded in the Bible in 2 Kin 24.) The Babylonians raided, then destroyed the temple, and exiled the people. Following the Babylonians the land was conquered by the Persians, the Medes, the Greeks, and then the Romans. (Many believe this succession of empires is foretold in Dan 2.24-47) Each time, the Jews were not masters in their own land, they were a conquered people, ruled over by the latest conquering army.

At the time of the first Christmas, the empire of Rome was the ruling nation. Herod grew up, the son of one of the Roman elites: His father had been prime minister of Judea. So he heard the stories of the elites growing up. Stories of the people his grandfather and father "...had rubbed shoulders with: Pompey, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavian, Cleopatra, Brutus, Cassius. All of the great names are names right at the table"[1] Perhaps this is where he first learned the lessons of political intrigue and constant suspicion that would mark (and mar) his family relationships leading to the death of his wife and sons. He certainly learned the lessons of political expediency well. Herod is often credited with being shrewd when it comes to politics. By the age of 25 he was appointed governor of Galilee. After a successful military campaign, the Romans offered him a tantalizing prize: marriage to a Jewish princess: Mariamne of the Hasmonean dynasty, whose royal family was considered the rightful rulers of Judea. Herod instantly saw how such an alliance could be of great profit to him, so he banished his wife and 3 year old son, sending them to exile, and married Mariamne. Five years later the Romans named him king of the Jews.

"King of Judea" is the title we see in the Bible (Luke 1.5). Of course the Jews did not accept him as their king. Even though he did a magnificent job of restoring and expanding the temple, that did not change the opinion the Jews had of him. He was an illegitimate king. He was not in the line of the kings of Judah. He wasn't even Jewish. Neither God, nor prophet nor law had appointed him as king. That was done by the power of the Roman sword  which controlled conquered territories through vassals like Herod.  That made matters worse: Herod was obedient to their conquerors, the Romans. Yet there he was, ruling as king. His rejection by the Jews was likely at least one of the reasons Herod was so intent on finding the one "born king of the Jews" (Matt 2.2). He didn't want the Jews to rally around a king they did support, knowing they had never accepted him. So he committed the act he is perhaps most famous (or infamous) for: the slaughter of the male infants who were even near the age of the new born messiah. (Matt 2.16-18)

It was during this time that God arranged for the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, a sign the wise men likely took to mean "a king is coming to Judah." Interestingly enough, as you might have heard, there will be another conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn - on December 21st of this year. While such a conjunction is not that rare - it happens every 20 years - the fact that it will be visible on earth by the naked eye is rare - so the astronomers tell us:

Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions happen every 20 years; the last one was in the year 2000. But these conjunctions aren’t all created equal. The 2020 great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn will be the closest since 1623 and the closest observable since 1226! On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will be only 0.1 degree apart[2]

Also, interestingly enough it's happening during a time when the U.S., a nation that is supposed to be a beacon of God for the nations, is facing a challenge that will rock her to her core and cause irreparable damage if not remedied: the possibility of a king being set in place who was not legally elected and who is rejected by many of God's people. I refer of course to the currently supposed winner of the 2020 presidential election. While the main stream media anointed him as "president-elect" before the counting was even completed, many who have observed the election closely and have seen the evidences[3] of massive voter and election fraud, have rejected him as ever being the rightful president. A person possessing a stolen jewel is not considered it's rightful owner. Likewise though a thief may hold the office, he will never be accepted as the rightful occupant of the office. As the Jews rejected Herod - and never considered him the rightful king - even though he held the office, likewise many - particularly among God's people - have rejected the main stream media anointed winner of the 2020 election.

And it's during this time of turmoil we see another intersection: the visible conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. During the first century at the first advent, God was making a statement: Something big was about to happen. The King is coming to Judah. Well it's no triple conjunction this time, so clearly it's not as important, and scripture clearly says no man knows the hour of Jesus' return (Matt 24.36), so I don't think it's a sign of Jesus' second coming. But could it be a sign that God is up to something big? That's something to consider, something to meditate on, and thus this meditation.

 May your meditations on the fact that God is always up to something good - whether announced or not - help to make the Christmas of this difficult year a bit more merrier.

Duane Caldwell | November 17, 2020
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(Note the new Twitter account. More on that in the next article)
 

Notes

1. Peter Richardson, Historian, ref. .from The Bible's Greatest Secrets: Herod and The Bethlehem Massacre, Discovery Documentary, 2003
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2.Deborah Byrd and Bruce McClure, "If you haven’t seen Jupiter and Saturn, you’re missing something!", Earthsky, Dec 10, 2020, https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dec-21-2020
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3. For more evidences of massive voter fraud, here is a mere sampling. There is much more evidence not even mentioned here.

Affidavit by Dr. Keshavarz-Nia concludes that 2020 election data was altered resulting in "hundreds of thousands" of votes "transferred".

#ElectionSteal: Call Me a Crank Who Believes in Liberty

Everything You Need to Know About 2020 Election Fraud, but the Media Won’t Let You Ask

Here is the evidence
(Site that lists hundreds of specific evidences and witnesses of various types of vote fraud in the 2020 election)

Huge spike in votes after ballots hidden under a table were pulled out and counted after partisan observers were told counting had stopped for the night and were sent home.

I Believe Joe Biden Has Legitimately Won This Election

Matt Braynard discovers thousands of illegally cast mail-in ballots and reports them

Reasons why the 2020 presidential election is deeply puzzling

Suppose You Wanted to Steal an Election. How Would You Do It?

Testimony of Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, MIT PhD - on weighted votes Also here
Dr Shiva recreated the progress of the election and demonstrated the only way to recreate that exact progression as seen in the graph is to weight the votes such that democratic challenger's votes were weighted at 1.3 and the president's were .7. This also explains fractional vote counts - which are impossible in legal a vote tally.

The President's vote count decreases in PA, live on TV  from 1,690,589 to 1,670,631 (A loss of 19,958 votes - a decrease in votes is impossible in a legal election)

Thousands of complete ballots with return addresses filled out, put on a truck on Oct 21 in NY and sent via truck to PA (Why is NY shipping completed ballots to PA?)

What Would It Take to Convince You The Election Was Rigged?

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